(Los Angeles Times) After expressing frustration with the Roman Catholic Church’s focus on hot-button doctrinal issues, Pope Francis launched a stinging attack on abortion Friday, calling it the product of a “throwaway culture.”

“Every baby who is not born, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of Jesus Christ,” he told an audience of Catholic gynecologists at the Vatican.

The comments came the day after an Italian Jesuit magazine published a lengthy interview with the pope in which he said the church had become “obsessed” with controversial issues such as abortion, and called instead for a focus on healing and mercy.